R is for Rescue first, Rest later
by simanis
Summary: R is for Rescue first, Rest later.This is a continuation from I is for Instant Action, you have to read that to know what had happened earlier. Don got delayed on his way home .A Summer Alphabet Challenge Story.


**R is for Rescue first, Rest later.  
**_(This is a continuation from I is for Instant Action, you have to read that to know what had happened earlier. )_

_**Don got delayed on his way home .**_

"Charlie, see you at home, you'd better give a call to Dad, tell him dinner's gonna be a bit late. No need to go into details, right buddy? Megan, its all wrapped here, no point in you all coming all the way. Turn round and go home everyone. Thank you all, Don Eppes out." Don smiled as he closed his cell.

He stretched his tired shoulders, but stopped when he felt the sudden pull on his injury. Don made a note to himself to change before going to Charlie's house.

Charlie heard his brother's weary voice; turning to Megan he said: "Megan, can we go in Don's direction? Sort of meet up with him?"

"Charlie, it's some distance away and he's told us not to go on." Megan said. But she knew that Charlie was worried for Don, so she compromised. "How about we stop somewhere and wait for him? We can let him know where we'll be."

"That'd be good. Where shall we wait?"

"Megan we came across a clearing some distance back, about ten minutes after we picked Charlie up." David chipped in.

"Okay, let's go back to that place. You show me where, David."

"Thanks Megan."

"It's okay, Charlie don't you worry about your brother." Megan flipped open her phone and pressed speed dial number 1.

There were some static noise and no ring tone.

"He must be passing through the mountain ranges again." Megan said.

"Megan, it's just around this corner." David said. "There that place. See beyond the trees? You can go right in there and stop."

Megan slowly maneuvered into the shady spot parked her car and switched off the engine. "Okay boys, we wait here. If anyone wants a drink there are some bottles in the small box near your leg, Charlie."

"Thanks, Megan."

Don was passing through the mountain ranges again. Coming past the Moosehead sign he saw wisps of smoke coming up out of the hillside. He looked at his clock on the dashboard and saw that it was late. It would take him another one and half hours to reach home. He sighed, pulling his Suburban over to the edge to check where the smoke was coming from.

"Help…help…" Came a tiny voice.

"Hello?" Don cupped his hands to his mouth and called down. "Who's down there?"

Don could see a partially hidden red car which had been stopped on the way down by a scattering of bushes. He also saw that there was no immediate danger of the car falling any further for the terrain sort of flattened out with trees. The hood was busted open and smoke came from the engine. Don could not see the occupants from where he was standing.

Don sighed. _Talk about a tiring day..._

"Help! Please help us. My little boy is hurt and I can't get out. Please!"

"Hold on. Hold on, I'm coming down. "

Don quickly went to the back of his truck and took out his sports bag and dumped everything out. He put in the small first aid kit, just in case, along with his spare sports jacket and another tee.

He took out his FBI jacket and put it on to cover the light gunshot injury on his shoulder. He quickly took out his red safety triangle and put it out on the road next to the truck. He then locked up his SUV, pocketed his keys and slowly climbed down the slope. He didn't have any ropes. He jotted down in his mind to keep some in his truck for future use.

"Hello? Keep talking, I'm coming down. My name is Don Eppes."

"Thank you Mister Eppes. My name is Sharon and my son's name is Timmy."

Don went down slowly, he slipped but managed to grabbed hold of a root sticking out of the ground. _Oops! Careful, _he thought_. Don't want to be rolling down the hill._

The little car came to view, a woman was trying to tug the car door open but her efforts were hampered by the short tree that had saved them from rolling further downhill. Don dropped his bag at a clearing and surveyed the situation. Don slowly crept up, careful of the loose stones on the sloping hillside.

"My son, please go to my son…"

"Okay, where's your son?"

"Back of the car, I can't reach him. I can't open the door and I think my leg's broken." She started sobbing.

"How long have you been here, Sharon?" Don said trying to distract her while he crept to the back. The back door was also blocked so he slowly went to the other side. He saw that the door was crushed in.

"How long?" Don asked again as he concentrated on getting the door open, he hadn't heard the answer.

"Some time, dunno. Some big car hit my back end and I was sent spinning and spinning. I'd thought I got it under control but hadn't I realised that the spinning took us right to the edge and we started rolling downhill. Please get my son, my son…." The woman was sobbing.

"Please keep calm. I need you to keep calm, Sharon."

Don looked inside the back and saw a small boy of about five was still belted up in the back. His head lolled sideways and there was a small cut on his forehead. Don looked further inside and found no other injuries. He must been hit by the branches sticking through the front windshield. The shattered glass was mostly on the front passenger side. Don shuddered to think what might have happened if the boy had been sitting next to his mother.

The branches nearly reached to the back where the boy was. It could have been the force of the car rolling that made the branches hit the boy on the head. Next to the boy on the seat Don saw a model of a red Ferrari car.

He pulled at the door, again and this time a curse was out of his mouth before he could control it. His pulling on the door had further injured his shoulder and now he could feel some wetness.

"Mister?" Sharon called out. "Are you alright? How's Timmy?"

"I'm okay. I'm trying one more time to pull the door open. Lucky Timmy was sitting at the back. I think he's got a bit of concussion, that's why he's out. I see no other injuries."

"Timmy wanted to play with his car so I told him to sit at the back so as not to distract me. I'm not used to this big car yet, I bought it only six months ago. I used to drive a much smaller car and now this accident."

Don used all of his strength and gave a hard pull. The wrecked door budged a bit. He pulled harder again and it opened about three quarters of the way. Pulling away some smaller branches he stuck his head inside. "Timmy? Hey, Timmy, wake up." Don lightly patted at his face.

Timmy moved a bit. _Good, he's waking up_. Don unbuckled his belt and put his hands under the boy's back and under his knees and lifted him a bit, pushing away at the branches with his shoulder. One branch caught his injured shoulder and he nearly dropped the boy.

Bending his head further down to avoid the rest of the branches he slowly backed out of the car. He carried Timmy a way back up hill looking for the clearing where he had dropped his bag and laid him down. From his bag he took out his t-shirt and used it to cover Timmy. He checked him over again and found no further injuries except the small cut. "Timmy, you stay here. Don't move OK? I'll go and get your mommy now."

Timmy opened his eyes and looked at Don before nodding his head. "Good boy." Don said and left him.

He went back to the car and this time tried to open the door from the other side. "Sharon, can you unbuckle your belt and slide to this side?" Don was surprised that the airbag had not deployed.

Don then noticed that it was a 1998 or 1999 model saloon. That explained it, there were no airbags in this model. He wondered if she hadn't known that or if she'd been told a lie when she bought the car.

Don removed whatever branches he could and saw that she was wearing trousers. Good, it would prevent her knees from getting cut by stray glass. He used a branch to sweep most of the broken glass away.

Sharon twisted in her seat and leaned sideways towards Don. Grabbing at the seats she slowly inched herself forwards.

"Come on slide towards me slowly, that's it." Don encouraged.

"Yes, yes, I can." Very slowly she managed to slide towards Don and he helped her out of the car. She cried out when Don got her to the ground, "My leg!"

Don sat her down and he saw that her right leg was swollen at the ankle. "Sharon, I'll help you stand up. Use your left leg, OK?"

It was slow going but they made it to where Timmy was lying. Sharon quickly sat near him. "Timmy, darling. Timmy." She cuddled him to her."

Don smiled when he heard, "Mommy. Aw, Mommy, don't hold so tight."

"Mommy nearly lost you, Mommy will hold you tight. Oh Timmy, you must thank the nice man for getting us out."

Don handed her the jacket and she put it around both of them. Don surveyed the situation when he suddenly remembered his phone. He took it out of his pocket and tried. No line.

"Mister, Mister."

"Yes, Timmy? My name is Don Eppes."

"Mister Don Eppes, thank you for saving us."

"Yes, thank you very much." Sharon added. "I don't know what we would have done if you had not passed by this way. I have seen other cars but they didn't stop."

_Oh gosh, _Don thought._ They must have been here for sometime. _"You're both welcome. Were you telling me you were hit before you went down hill?"

"Yes, I was hit at the back and I spun round a bit. I thought it was okay when I stopped spinning but didn't know the car was at the edge and before I knew it the car went down hill.

"Then you've been here for sometime? Let the sheriff know about it, they may catch the culprit who hit your car. I'm gonna walk a bit away to see if I can find a line, okay?"

Don made his way to a more prominent spot and tried his cell again, getting static. He walked a bit further and suddenly his phone rang. He almost dropped it.

He saw 'Megan' on the screen. _Thank goodness_, he thought. "Hello, Megan!"

"Don, finally! Charlie is frantic with worry. Where are you? We've been waiting here for almost an hour and you have yet to pass us."

"Pass you? What are talking about?"

"We stopped and waited for you to pass us. Actually we've been calling you for the umpteenth time. You should have passed the mountain ranges sometime back, where are you?"

"Megan, there's an emergency, we need to be rescued. Actually not me, but a mother and her son, they were in an accident and went down the slope. I managed to extricate them out of the car but I can't carry them up. They need to be rescued, the mother has a badly sprained ankle and her son was concussed but awake now. I can't go up the slope without any help. I'm really pooped and could sleep for a week."

"Okay, you stay put. Tell us what you want us to do." Megan said.

"Oh geez thanks Megan. You're great. Can you get Gary Walker to call his Sheriff friend again in Moose Mountain and tell him we need a tow truck and an ambulance, er, about a short distance before the Moose Mountain sign. My SUV is on the roadside. I'm staying with the mother and son."

"Will do. I'll get back to you after I've called Gary. Take care and don't move from your location."

Don smiled and walked back to Sharon and told her the good news. He then told her that he had to go back to the other location for the phone reception. Don went back and found a spot to sit. If he weren't so bone tired he would have noticed the beautiful scenery and the muted glow of the setting sun.

_They better be here quick, _he thought as he suddenly noticed that it was getting dark.

His cell rang, "Don, they should be there any minute. How are the mother and son?"

"The son seems to be okay now. Its getting dark here, Megan. They better hurry up or else it will be difficult to get up the mountain."

"Okay, they'll be there any minute now. Here's Charlie, he's dying to talk to you."

"Don? Don are you okay?"

"I'm alright, just tired. What are you doing? You're supposed to be back home."

"Don't worry, I've already called Dad and told him that we'll be delayed."

"Okay, I'll see you tonight. I hear the sirens now. You get going too."

"See you at home Don and take care."

The sirens came to a stop above them. Lights were being shone down and ropes were thrown down for easy access. Men came down the slopes.

Don walked up and met one of the Sheriff's men who had clambered down and explained the situation. The officer told him they would take over and thanked him for his help. Don handed him his card in case they needed to contact him.

Don went over to Sharon and had some words with her. She thanked him and Don told her that she should get the company that sold her the saloon about the airbag. He said he will have a word with the Sheriff on that.

Don looked over at the paramedics who were checking her son who was fidgeting. "Timmy stay still, let the nice man check you. Is he going to be alright?"

"His vitals look okay, just a bump on the head. He's a tough guy, aren't you Timmy? We'll let the hospital give him a thorough check."

"Okay. Take care Sharon. Bye Timmy. "

"Goodbye Don, and thank you again. Here's your tee and jacket." Sharon said, handing it over to Don as Timmy waved to Don.

One of the Sheriff's men held the rope for Don to climb up the hill . Don took hold of the rope and climbed up holding on to his bag. Coming down was easy, he hadn't known that going up would be that tough.

A hand came down, caught hold of his and he was pulled up the last few feet. "Thanks, Sheriff Landers. Nice of you to come here and help."

"Its alright. She was lucky that you passed this area, at this time of day very little traffic passes through."

Don talked at length with the Sheriff regarding Sharon's accident and also about her car. The Sheriff said he would take it up with Sharon.

"Are you okay to drive all the way back?"

"Yeah, should be okay. I had a bit of rest just now." Don said pointing down the hill.

"Oh, yeah? Well, it's up to you. You could stay a night at Moose Mountain and start your journey back in the morning." Sheriff Landers said.

"It's alright, I'll enjoy your Moose Mountain next time. I'll bring my brother Charlie along." Don thanked the Sheriff and dumped his bag in the back of his SUV. He recovered his red triangle and after one last look at the rescuers he got into his car and drove off.

When he reached home it was well after midnight. He climbed wearily down from his truck and got into the house quietly. There was a note propped up on the table where he dumped his keys. 'Donnie, casserole in the micro, reheat before you eat. If you're not eating, put it away in the fridge. Dad.'

_Not eating, too tired. Need to rest and relax first_, he thought to himself. He went to the kitchen, took the pot out of the microwave and put it into the fridge. He took out a beer, opened it and went to the sitting room. He sat in his dad's comfortable chair and drank the beer in the dark.

That was how Alan found his eldest, stretched out on the chair, beer bottle on the floor. It was only 6am, he thought he'd better wake Don up so he could get to the bedroom where he could continue his sleep in comfort.

"Don, Don?"

"Umm, Dad? Huh, it's morning?"

"Yes, early morning. Why don't you go up and continue your sleep?"

"Er, good idea. 'Night, er, morning."

"Go on."

Don trudged up wearily and went to the bedroom, saw the bed and quickly flopped onto it.

Alan came up to check on him and found him with his legs sticking out and face buried into the pillow. "Donnie, Donnie. Come on, turn to your side."

"Um… " Don turned when his father pushed him sideways. He turned face up but was still asleep.

Alan shook his head, put his legs back onto the bed. He pulled off Don's boots, then unbuckled his belt. He pulled the belt off him and started to undo the top buttons of his son's trousers. He smiled to himself, thinking _what will Donnie say when he wakes up and find himself in his jockey briefs?_ Alan thought better of it, Donnie might decide never to come back and sleep if he thought that his old man might decide to make him comfortable by undressing him.

Alan did want to make him sleep comfortably so he unzipped Don's jacket and undid the top few buttons of his shirt. He got a shock when he saw red inside the shirt. He lifted the collar and he saw the end of a groove, dried blood caking the edges.

He wanted to wake Don up but when he saw tired lines on his son's stubble covered face, he decided to let it go and check on him in the morning. What he needed now was rest and a good long sleep. He took the blanket at the foot of the bed and put it around his son and tucked him in.

Alan took a last look at him and went out of the room.

The end…

_**My thanks to Wendy for the beta.**_


End file.
